Meet Vinnie!

[Flobo]

I don't have a dog at the moment as you know, but I do kind of have a dog fox! We call him Vinnie, he first appeared in our front garden early last summer, lazing around in the sun. He was looking a bit moth eaten and scratching a lot so I ordered some homeopathic mange treatment for him on line and started to give him a daily dose in a honey sandwich. By the time we were in Autumn he was looking really good and turning up for breakfast and tea!! He's still checking in with us regularly, these pics are from a couple of days ago, he even takes food out of our hands...

 

[JudyN]

Hello Vinnie! Now you need to work on sit, stay, recall, agility....

 

[Buddy1]

Vinnie is one very lucky fox! Don't think I have seen such a healthy looking fox before.

 

[niamh123]

Hello and welcome Vinnie
Vinnie is absolutely gorgeous

 

[Flobo]

Hello Vinnie! Now you need to work on sit, stay, recall, agility....

His 'recall' is pretty good, he does respond to his name and a squeaking noise we make to call him!!! Also he recognizes the squeak of our back door...stay he can do when he's waiting for food and sit he rather likes to do in a nice sunny spot, now just got to work on agility!!

 

[Finsky]

Aww...he is quite a looker. I do like foxes even my dogs don't or the chickens....

 

[Flobo]

@Finsky That's the only time 'having' Vinnie is problematic, when I am out with any of my boarding dogs! I can be walking along the road and he'll see me and cross over and start to follow us even though the dog I have with me is going absolutely nuts!! Depending on the dog I usually try and avoid either his times or patch, which isn't always easy.. At home though he has sussed out that when the side gate is shut it means there is a dog at home and he will be much more subtle with his presence, though the little bugger will leave a scent or two in the garden through the night just to let them know he's been there!!

 

[Finsky]

@Finsky That's the only time 'having' Vinnie is problematic, when I am out with any of my boarding dogs! I can be walking along the road and he'll see me and cross over and start to follow us even though the dog I have with me is going absolutely nuts!! Depending on the dog I usually try and avoid either his times or patch, which isn't always easy.. At home though he has sussed out that when the side gate is shut it means there is a dog at home and he will be much more subtle with his presence, though the little bugger will leave a scent or two in the garden through the night just to let them know he's been there!!

Foxes really are clever things!

We have family of them living here on the allotments that are just behind our property. And each year we see cubs coming out...they are so looovely.
But they are rather too nosy for their own good and often not scared enough of dogs on neighbouring properties.
Last year we had one youngster who would come to our garden every bloody night at the almost same time too.
Now I'm only swearing of it because it sent my dog crackers for some weeks. That youngster fox did first learn to walk along on top of our hedge to reach our aviary and sit on its roof and of course it would send roosting birds into frenzy....which of course alerted my dog and she would be 'uffing and puffing' (I managed to teach her not to do full blown bark!), running around house waking us and no doubt next door neighbours too And only way to calm her down was to let her out to send the fox flying, away from the aviary. But then I would not get our now adrenaline hyped terrier in and back to sleep for hours.
After while the youngster fox would wise up and not to try to get to the aviary, but would inspect the garden by sitting on at the bottom of the property on the shed roof. By then the aviary birds would have learned their lesson and even the fox was some meters away from them...the mayhem started again. This time the fox would just sit tight on its safe place, out of reach and see how my dog would go wild and frustrated on the ground....and yet, the shed where the fox would 'perch' was our chicken shed, those girls were not bothered...never showed any sign of panic what so ever. After all, they were brought up in presence of nosy terriers, who would try their best to get them but would be left with just bloody pecks on their button noses
Just last night I could hear foxes again making some noises...and owls making their calls nearby too..so much night time activity around here to get terriers going...

 

[Josie]

Next we’ll see a picture of Vinnie in a dog bed inside your house @Flobo with a nice sparkly collar on

 

[Flobo]

Reckon he would so rock a sparkly collar!

 

[Flobo]

For the last 2 days I have had my favourite ginger nut staying with me, a lovely Irish Terrier. My husband had forgotten he was coming and came in from working out the back to see a flash of ginger walk past the kitchen... he nearly pooped himself because he thought for a moment that Vinnie had got in and was having a mooch about!!!thought I'd share... For me having a dog again, albeit briefly, was so lovely Think I wore him out

 

[Josie]

Love it when they’re super sleepy and content!

 

[Finsky]

For the last 2 days I have had my favourite ginger nut staying with me, a lovely Irish Terrier. My husband had forgotten he was coming and came in from working out the back to see a flash of ginger walk past the kitchen... he nearly pooped himself because he thought for a moment that Vinnie had got in and was having a mooch about!!!thought I'd share... For me having a dog again, albeit briefly, was so lovely Think I wore him out

Ohhhh…..Irish terrier...a breed that has been in my mind for some years now and I'm itching to one day have one. It is nice to have even a borrowed dog company when not having one permanently to live with. Will you be tempted to start looking for one now?

 

[JudyN]

Jasper has a splash of Irish terrier in (can you see a slight resemblance in the face?) and I blame all his norty bits on that! To be fair though, I blame more the interaction of the terrier genes with the sensitive sighthound genes.

 

[Buddy1]

Hope your husband has recovered @Flobo. Many years ago, when my sister moved house the previous owner regularly feed the local fox – even left instructions about its favourite food! The fox had become very tame and would invite himself into the house if a door was left open. My sister is not really an animal lover. I remember getting a rather hysterical phone call from her – she was standing on the kitchen table while the fox was sitting patiently underneath waiting to be fed.
@Finsky I do like Irish terriers too. They are second on my terrier list, beaten only by Sealyhams – I just love them. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll own either. Visions of a Sealyham living in harmony with cat, chickens, bunnies aren’t really going to happen are they

 

[Flobo]

Ohhhh…..Irish terrier...a breed that has been in my mind for some years now and I'm itching to one day have one. It is nice to have even a borrowed dog company when not having one permanently to live with. Will you be tempted to start looking for one now?

He is definitely a character that's for sure with many special qualities,I've known him since a pup and he's nearly 9 years old now! I would love to have another dog but because my usual business is one to one dog boarding I feel it would be too difficult to bring a new rescue into my home and then expect them to share with my other dogs, coming and going, that already feel this is their established 'other' home..I was lucky with Jake as he was a very chilled out dog and also all my boarders met him before I would even entertain the idea of boarding them. One day when my situation changes though I will absolutely take in the next dog that crosses my path in need of a new home

 

[Flobo]

Thought I'd share a pic of Vinnie sat waiting while I made his honey sandwich the other morning!

 

[Josie]

Aw he’s sweet

 

[Finsky]

Thought I'd share a pic of Vinnie sat waiting while I made his honey sandwich the other morning!

Aww....'hurry up...somebody here is getting very hungry !'

 

[Flobo]

He is sweet but also a real cheeky bugger!! He'd actually already had a couple of chicken wings before he came back and sat there, watching me eat my toast and marmite, reckon he knew I'd get up and make him his sarnie too, I am way too soft!